Marlow Moments

We went for a walk in Marlow yesterday, it was glorious along the river in the sunshine and we did a short 5k along the Thames path. On our return to the town we decided to grab a drink in the craft beer bar in the high street only to find that it wasn't there any more! In it's place was a restaurant called "Ginger Wings" a chicken wing joint apparently owned by the Son of Heston Blumenthal; we asked if we could just have a drink and they begrudgingly allowed us to sit in their airconditioned bar area. There were no real craft beers available but they did have a hazy number from Rebellion brewery (based in Marlow) and I was pleasantly surprised, it wasn't too bad! Usually when mainstream breweries try to do "craft" it's a disaster but this was OK, fresh, hoppy and just the job on a hot day!

Thanks for the memory

Before we had solid state chips we used to make computer memory by weaving fine copper wires and magnets to represent the ones and zeros. This all sounds tentative but in actual fact the memory devices made this way were extremely robust, and this is proved by the photo above, it's the 70Kb memory device used in the 1969 moon landings, a pretty good endorsement!

Curiosities

It was our wedding anniversary this week and we spent Tuesday and Wednesday in London. We stayed at a rather unusual boutique hotel in Clerkenwell that was full of Victorian curiosities (see picture above) it was kind of like visiting the house of a weird eccentric from 200 years ago, I was expecting Jack the Ripper to jump out at any moment! Cool place though, really interesting and obviously very popular as the ornate bar was packed both nights we were there.

Friday Smirk

Jesus and Mo reflecting on the old "colonialism" chestnut! A slippery topic, all depends at which point in history you draw the baseline..

Lying for a living

I see that the Iranian "supreme" leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a fascist religious autocrat who has spent the last two weeks in hiding, is claiming that Iran "delivered a slap to America's face" by firing a missile at a US base in Oman (no one was hurt) and that his country was "victorious" in it's brief war with Israel. Do any of the down trodden people of Iran actually believe this aged grifter anymore? 

Not only is a large amount of Iranian hardware and infrastructure now turned to carbon but it's nuclear ambitions have been set back significantly and many of it's military leaders killed, the good Ayatollah will be emerging from his bunker to a somewhat different Iran! Let's hope the people of that ancient civilisation can find the strength and resources to rise up and kick out these religious fanatics, if they can then perhaps they can return to occupying a significant and positive role in the region rather than being crushed under the impoverished heal of professional liars.

Time of the year

It's that time of the year again...

Planes within Planes

Every so often when you're scanning Google maps for something you come across commercial aircraft accidentally snapped by the camera in the satellite, this isn't a particularly unusual thing. However, I came across one the other day while looking at the Berkshire village of Shiplake, it's an American Airlines plane, presumably coming into land at Heathrow, but, unusually there's another aircraft below it on the ground, planes within planes, it's a funny old game.. 

Monday Mirth

Oh those medieval folk, here we see a Bishop and what looks like a King spying on a bunch of people seemingly having some kind of bathing, feasting orgy. Not a lot changes really does it, human beings obsessed with sex, drugs and rock and roll, and those in power wanting to control it all.

Encores

I've written about this series of beers from Siren before, back in 2022, and was pleased to see that they released it in can format again for this Summer. This time around the hop chosen is one of my favourites, Nelson Sauvin from NZ, it gives a delightful white wine vibe alongside the classic "suspended" tropical notes, a perfect fridge filler..!

Saturday Smile

Reminds me of a rather well known CEO who is prominent in the news right now (EM), although, I've worked for a few "CEO's" over the years who this joke applies to! Some say the proportion of CEO's who are also sociopathic is far, far higher than that same ratio in the rest of the population, I can believe it..

Hits, and misses

A new Siren beer to try last evening in the sunshine, a hazy IPA called "Playlist" featuring Citra and Krush hops, Krush is a new one on me and I must be honest it took some getting used to, not my favourite with slightly sour notes. Anyway, not a complete disaster as the Citra provided a backbone of citrus and tropical fruits which kind of lifted the whole thing a bit.

Dignity in dying

I'm happy to see that the assisted dying bill passed through the house of commons this evening, a tally of 313 for and 291 against means that the bill will pass to the house of lords where it will be scrutinized further (and hopefully improved!). 

It always struck me that consenting adults who are in the final days of their lives (often in unbearable pain) and were prevented from taking the obvious next logical step, was an inhumane constraint. This constraint is often championed and permeated by people who have a medieval and primitive belief system that relies upon the obscure and ephemeral wishes of a supervising supernatural being who's existence is a million miles from being shown to be true in any way, a selfish viewpoint if ever there was one..

IMO We should stick to what we KNOW to be true (as opposed to what we'd like to be true) .. We're born, we live and we die and if we're lucky we get to have some fun and pass our genes onto the next generation, and that's all there is... prove me wrong!

Actions speak louder..

Air traffic over the Middle East right now...

Friday Smirk

Jesus and Mo pointing out that there's nothing like a little self delusion to make the average Human as happy as a Chimp with a banana..

Flying sons..

My Son is flying off to New York today for a week to see some of his ex-Uni friends (and to crash on their apartment floor hopefully!) With the aid of the "flightradar" tracking site I snapped this picture of his plane as it flew over our house, you can just about spot it in the gap between the trees. I bet he's fuming up there though, the flight was supposed to take off at 16:20 but this photo was taken at 18:26, apparently a fault was spotted prior to take off which had to be fixed by engineers. The plane is a Boeing so I advised him to head for seat 11A...

Lovely day for a stroll

Super clear blue skies over the SE of the UK at the moment, a lovely day for a stroll up the long walk (which seemed extra long in the 30 degree heat!)

In the style of...

I asked ChatGPT to make a picture of me in the style of Caravaggio, bit dark and moody but pretty good.

Fathers day treats

Spent a rather splendid couple of hours with the fam in Caversham yesterday afternoon, firstly at my favourite pub there, the Fox & Hounds for a lovely drop of Verdant beer and a game of darts with my Son then secondly over to Clays Indian restaurant for a slap up meal which was delicious.

Elusive pair

A couple of new Elusive beers this weekend, both heavily featuring NZ hops and both pale ales at around the 4% ABV mark. So easy to drink, no rough edges at all and a pleasing focus on malt rather than relying solely on the hops to carry the flavour load, a delight to sup on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

Saturday Smile

Ah yes, I see, makes perfect sense...

Friday Smirk

Celebrating just over a year being in retirement, it's glorious, especially when the sun is shining! ("scorchio" today)

Cornas

A delicious Cornas wine that I drank earlier in the year (April) at a wine bar called "Lower Wine Bar & Bottleshop" in Lower Marsh, London (next to Waterloo station) after treating my Daughter to a slap up lunch. It was a classic Cornas with flavours of red berries, liquorice and typical "meatiness", I'd love to try a really top producer in this region I think I'd like it a lot!

Midweek Mirth

Jesus and Mo both proving that blasphemy is a stupid idea! (and Islamophobia is a word created by fascists, and used by cowards, to manipulate morons)

Seafood Frenzy

An excellent selection of fresh seafood in the Beach House in Falmouth, Cornwall the other week, I can't recommend this place enough, makes my mouth water just looking at this photo...

9 Mile

Last week saw the return of an old friend, "Nine Mile Ride" was a beer brewed by Siren and Elusive (both located in Finchampstead, Berkshire) and the name relates to a well known road in the area that was built for one of our illustrious regents for the purposes of hunting. It's a classic West Coast IPA made to be bitter with glorious grapefruit and tropical notes, a lovely beer and a strong candidate for the top 20 list this year!

Southampton in London

I was out for a few pints with my Son on Friday and we ended up at the Southampton Arms in Kentish Town, London. It's one of my favourite London pubs (and now his too!) the beer selection is legendary and the number of craft beers available on cask is also impressive, the prices are outstanding for London as well! Two absolute creamers from Howling Hops (Hackney Wick) in the picture above, delicious! We agreed the owners of the pub should open another one called the "London Arms" but this time in Southampton!

Pearly

My Son and I had a wonderful lunch at Pearly Queen in Shoreditch, London today, one of the highlights of the meal was the "Pearly Dozen" 12 oysters all prepared in different ways, delicious!

Friday Smirk

Jesus and Mo illustrating how our religious brothers and sisters love to play tennis, without a net (or lines)

Legless in Kernow

 

While in Cornwall last week we had a meal at a posh beach shack up the coast a bit from where we were staying. Called "Beach House" it's basically a fish restaurant and part of a small group of upscale restaurants along the coast. The food was amazing, and I tried something I'd never really had before, Octopus (see above) it was a chunky bit of leg (hopefully the poor creature still has 7 left?) complete with suckers and a deliciously spicy sauce, I was expecting it to be a bit rubbery but it wasn't, more like the consistency of monk fish, totally lush!

Tuesday Titter

Nature..

This tree was alive and kicking in the age of the dinosaurs 70 million years ago, now it's just another rock  (quartz) in Arizona... 

Perfection

Just back from a lovely week with friends in Falmouth, Cornwall. One of the day trips we took was over the bay to the village of St. Mawes (see above) it was a perfect day, delightful place, gorgeous weather and cold Verdant beer on tap (see below) what more could anyone need?